parties

The 404 244: Where we're knee deep in Heavy & Flo

Today's show features a new recurring guest segment featuring our two favorite ladies, codenamed Heavy and Flo! They'll join us once a month to bring a very refreshing female presence to this bromance. We're testing their ability to keep up with the dudes, and they pass with flying colors, discussing stories like Bill Murray's spot-on Bruce Wayne impression, Indiana's strict driver's license rules, Heavy's visit to the Playboy mansion, and Rock Band's foray into the Country music scene.

Last week, the dudes and I realized one glaring downfall to our show: all … Read more

Everyone's happy with the PizzaDome

San Francisco is not well known for its pizza. It's sad, but true. And while there is a smattering of decent pizza available, the options are few and far between. As a result, I did what any rational pizza-starved adult would do: I formed a pizza club.

So far this 'club' consists of just me and a fellow pizza-hungry buddy searching about for delicious area pizza. There's not much to it; basically, we find a promising spot and go eat there. No pictures. No arguing over thick or thin crust, to fold or not to fold; just a … Read more

Serving sporks with style

The holidays represent different things for different people, but for many, they provide a ton of opportunities to entertain. In the month between Thanksgiving and New Year's, from family gatherings, friendly dinner parties, and office holiday bashes, we spend a lot of time eating and drinking.

If you want to buy someone a gift that you'll get to take advantage of next year, then consider these Moscardino Sporks from the MoMA design store. You can use the scoop and fork ends, so they're perfect both for spearing meats and cheeses and for spooning salsa and dip onto … Read more

The big chill for holiday parties?

For a company that's cutting costs these days, the annual holiday party is an easy target. But there have been fewer cancellations in the tech industry than one might think.

True, eliminating an evening of eggnog and sugar cookies won't help an ailing balance sheet that much; in the current financial downturn, it has a lot to do with appearances, too. "It's the economy, definitely, but it's also a lot of public perception," said Celia Chen, a New York-based event planner who runs the blog Notes on a Party.

"People don't want … Read more

Ice bucket brings mood lighting to the party

Mood lighting is important in any situation. However, when a bottle of wine is opened the need is even more pronounced. It just calls for having the lights down low and some pleasant tunes on the hi-fi. Of course some friendly company is an agreeable accompaniment too.

But what of the times when the lights just aren't right? Too low or too bright, sometimes it's tricky to set the proper mood.

Enter the Drink Light Bottle Cooler. Or rather, turn it on.

This combination designed by Jorge Najera takes the lowly ice bucket and transforms it into something … Read more

Is Nintendo's software success really a curse?

Gamasutra posted an interesting study on video game sales and found that so far this year, four of the top five best selling titles can be found exclusively on the Wii.

According to the publication, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the top-selling game so far this year with an estimated 3.5 million units sold, followed by Mario Kart Wii, Grand Theft Auto 4 for the Xbox 360, Wii Play, and Wii Fit.

There's no debating that Nintendo is extremely pleased with the results and I'm surprised by just how well the Wii is performing. But can we ignore the fact that every single Wii title mentioned in that survey comes from Nintendo?

To those who only cares about playing games, I'm sure that doesn't even matter. Why should it? To the average person, it doesn't matter who makes the games, as long as the games are worth spending $50 or $60 on.

But from a business standpoint, I can't believe that Nintendo would be too happy about Gamasutra's findings. Sure, the company is reaping all the benefits of providing the top-selling games on its own consoles and that helps the bottom line, but we can't forget that a strong third-party library of games still matters to the success of a video game console.… Read more

Thrillist's recession special: Free stuff!

Trendy men's newsletter Thrillist has already shown its penchant for giving the middle finger to all things recession-related, whether it be chartering party planes or throwing '90s-dot-com bubble-theme parties (granted, both of those stunts preceded the Wall Street meltdown by a few months). But the New York-based start-up may be savvier than its big-pimpin' image would have you think.

The latest move from the company is a monthly compendium called Thrillist Invites, which is a listing of stuff you can do for free, if you sign up and RSVP. The first Thrillist Invites list will be for its New … Read more

BlackBerry Storm gets hip LA launch party

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--The BlackBerry Storm got its chance to be a child star Wednesday as Research In Motion threw it a coming-out party at the legendary Avalon Hollywood club.

There was the full runway action, as paparazzi photographed celebrities going down the red carpet on their way into the club. As I arrived, a couple of cast members from the new 90210 show were making their way down the carpet. (Perhaps my favorite line of the evening was one of the show's cast members saying she hadn't actually seen the original show, but had "seen pictures" of the show's stars).

I hung out near the red carpet as long as I could, but was urged to move it along so John Mayer could get his turn in front of the cameras. (Mayer and Apple fans alike will note he has made more than his share of appearances onstage with Steve Jobs but now stumps for RIM).

Since I know, I'd get comments along the lines of "Pix or it didn't happen," I've included a number of shots I took with my own BlackBerry (a Curve, alas). The pictures that were taken with the Storm's 3.2 megapixel camera look a lot better than the ones I took with my Curve, but well, there you have it.

In the VIP section, while the celebrities largely drank and took in the Foo Fighters, there were a few geeks that also managed to score a coveted white wrist band (often friends of friends of friends of the VIPs). They could easily be spotted tapping away on one of the many demo Storm devices at the event. … Read more

Oracle ordered to name settlement price in SAP lawsuit

A federal court judge ordered Oracle to name its settlement price in its ongoing litigation against archrival SAP over the handling of proprietary maintenance and support information for former Oracle customers who had switched over to a subsidiary of SAP.

Judge Joseph Spero on Monday ordered Oracle to give a specific dollar amount by February 13 to settle the lawsuit it filed in March 2007. Oracle previously indicated in its lawsuit that its damages were in excess of $1 billion.

SAP has until February 18 to issue a counterproposal. A settlement conference is scheduled for February 23.

The judge's … Read more